I did it! I completed SoA solo with a Cavalier. Dragons and vampires were a joke against my Cavalier, I look forward to ToB for greater challenges. The following contains spoilers for Chapter 6 and 7 and the Twisted Rune. The following also contains spoilers on special abilities that Cavaliers get in ToB. You have been forewarned.
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Some things I have learnt during the course of the game, Cavaliers are absolutely brutal against Dragons, Demons and Vampires. Cavaliers are also extremely resistant to most elements if you tool them properly.

Hardiness + Armour of Faith = 65% Damage Reduction, very useful when engaged in a prolonged battle where hits on you are almost certain, this is assuming a Cavalier of level 20.

Barkskin, a useful spell until you get better armour, I replaced it with Draw Upon Holy Might later in the game. Speaking of which, I used Draw Upon Holy Might often to boost my Cavalier's life and to enable him to bash open most locks.

Free Action, possibly one of the spells that contributed most to the success of the campaign. This spell negates Slow, Entanglement, Web, Stun, etc... I used it all the way to the end.

Turn Undead, see undead, no more undead.

Greater Whirlwind, this also helped a lot, especially against tough foes with lots of Hp, and against swarms of enemies.

The following link is a captioned screenshot gallery of events that lead to the finale, it contains, in order of appearance, Bodhi, Suldanessler, Twisted Rune, Black Dragon, Tree of Life and finally, the Nine Hells.

Cavaliers are brilliant. I've never tried to solo one but it sounds fun, maybe I should go do that. The first and only time I finished it was with a cavalier, I guess I've got a soft sopt for them.
Great job on manging to solo, like I said , sounds like fun.

Originally posted by ReGiN:hey, Dundee...where do you get the ring of free action?
And this "shield of balduran"....it's from the bonus cd, right?

Shield of Balduran is from the bonus CD, you buy it from the bonus merchant Deidre, she sets up shop in the Adventurer's Mart.

Chapter 4 Spoiler
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Eh? I used the level 4 Priest spell, Free Action, but you can also get the Ring of Free Action from Bodhi's Gauntlet. The exact location of the ring can be found from the following URL, it is marked with a bright green 7.

Originally posted by Fuzzy Animal:Questions:1) How did you manage mindflayers?

Used a Frostreaver + Saving Grace setup, the extra AC from the shield minimised hits, I also waited until I could use Whirlwind before attempting to fight the Mind Flayers. However, I still died a few times due to INT drain, my Cavalier only had 10 INT.

2) How low was your AC?

With Carsomyr, -8 AC. With the Sentinel Shield, -13 AC

3) How long (game time) did it take you?

About 103 game days

4) Did you have to reload a lot?

In the beginning, yes, but once I reached level 20 or so, death became a rare occurance.

5) Which battle (if any) was the most difficult?

Heh, heh... pre-level 20 would definitely be the fight against the Dwarf and his gang in the "Den of the Seven Vales" in Waukeen's Promenade, I had to run around a lot for that fight and lure them to an Amn Centurion to even the fight. I also summoned Skeletons using my Priest spells and a Genie from my Genie bottle. The fight was rewarding though, because it gave me a Full Platemail which was very useful for future battles.

Another frustrating one was Glacius, from Nalia's Keep, I had to reload about 7-8 times before a combination of Genie and Stinking Cloud allowed me to win that fight. Glacius was a higher level fighter than my Cavalier and I only had 3/2 attacks per round compared to his 3 per round. I was very happy when I finally defeated him.

After level 20? Hmmmm... I guess it was the final fight with Jon Irenicus in the Nine Hells. He had many attacks and dealt a lot of damage in his Slayer form, it was a close fight, not an easy one. I could not afford to retreat for long too, because he regenerates at an alarming rate.

[This message has been edited by Dundee Slaytern (edited 11-02-2001).]